Nor

The King is Dead: Long Live the King!

Following the death of the king, a lengthy discussion took place to determine the next King of Nor, which despite its brevity involved much “Rabble rabble rabble”-ing. Though the Eladrin secretly deny it, they eloquently maintained that a dwarf should retain the throne since he was not slain but for misfortune, and they were yet a long-lived and far-seeing race that tended to be the most neutral, racially speaking. More specifically the Danrunn clan was nominated, and the crown fell to Garix Danrunn, great-great uncle to Ulfgar Danrunn.

Babycakes, Wysharna’s Favored Soul in Nor, was balefully polymorphed into a turtle and absconded by a trio of ruffians. After her pet thunderlizard and velociraptor coordinated her retrieval, the thunderlizard conjured a Thunder Dome in which he summoned a number of thunder beasts, and Babycakes was again polymorphed into a half-devil, subsequently terrorizing the villagers. The raptor decided to lunch on a farmer’s cow, and Babycakes cajoled the farmer into letting the matter go (via her new form) when he decided to stand his ground – he fled.

Featherfoot spent the day distracting her kidnapper from his primary target: the Favored Soul of Wysharna – he has apparently become infatuated with her.

Luscious Lucius was enticed (half-seduced) into visiting the local “alchemists” guild, whereupon he was Dominated by the vampire, and instructed to bring his friends along one-by-one. So he went to the castle.

A band of goblins headed by a mage-apparent with a tiefling rogue and dragonborn paladin for cohorts approached the gates to Norheim seeking entry. Ulfgar arrived on the scene and denied them access, interrogating them (sans stones) at length. A captain of the guard, almost by possession, poisoned a good steak in an attempt to kill the goblin leader – he has since been reported for dishonorable conduct and wasting good steak.

Ulfgar met Lucius at the castle, and postponed following him to the “alchemists” guild until he could file a report. Upon telling a seer about the recent goblin incursion, the seer suffered major trauma and collapsed – subsequently vanishing (none saw the goblin teleport in & out). Discovering this, Ulfgar went to the Council of Seers, meeting with Elias (the vampire) and telling him of the situation. The vampire Dominated Ulfgar (barely), freeing Lucius, planted a fireball on him, and commanded him to charge into the council to deliver his message, whereupon the fireball detonated, incinerating the council (despite all odds). Ulfgar sent for the guards and family of the council, and his new gnomish cohort.

As Lucius arrived, Elias (the vampire) commanded Ulfgar to confess to the massacre, which he did, albeit very unconvincingly on account of his poor capacity for bluffing. Lucious then attacked the vampire, but for naught: the vampire used his domination to pit the two friends against one another, and the dame who had previously led Lucius to the guild was wont to interfere – she seemed to enjoy the sport of it. Lucius instead ran for the guard; Ulfgar maintained his orders to “defend” to the letter. He then followed his orders to “go after” Lucius, to the letter. Catching up to Lucius in the guard room – after Lucius had plenty of time to inform the guards of the situation (dwarves moving more slowly than humans) – the dwarf requested that the alchemist return with him. Elias arrived on the scene, accusing the human of killing the council; Ulfgar pointed out that the vampire had said he did it; the vampire facepalmed and fled.

Lucius talked the guard into following his chase of the vampire (though Ulfgar had yet to hear Elias referred to as such), and tracked the vampire to its home, entering with Babycakes, who arrived on scene. The cleric burned the vampire half to death, as did the alchemist, forcing it into its gaseous form, whence Lucius applied his satchel of Dust of Dryness, and they Blessed some water and forced the vampire dust to absorb the holy water, destroying it.

The monkey & the lich aspring continued their adventure through the Tomb of Horrors, and would have irrevocably died (by slime) but for the awakening of the chronomancer. It seems this once powerful, enigmatic mage has forgotten much of his former power. Will he too side with the forces of evil and the Dragon Lord Felnich?

Felnich has apparently eaten 3 deities now, including Lumen & Kole, and at least one king.

A guest log

Hopefully the GM will edit this to include anything I may have missed …

The party, less one budding lich, was recalled to Norheim by the King himself, where they were granted freedom to move about the city while recent events were to be sorted out.

One by one they were called by the Luminary of Truth who questioned them on their findings. Otherwise, the party went each their separate ways, for the most part.

The favored Soul of Wysharna, recently renamed Babycakes, went with her pets (she now has four, including a mountain lion and a displacer beast) and Featherfoot down Queen’s St. to the intersection of King’s Way where there was a bardic college the latter sought. Along the way they found an armorer whe turned out, it seems, to be rather presumptuous, and they departed, the favored soul more than a bit put off by the offense against her good courtesy. The dwarves apparently seem not to care too much about dealings within their walls. The pair also discovered that Wysharna had a tree on Queen’s a ways beyond King’s Way – one of the few haven’s of light left in Nor. When confronted by the common bondage of the Dragonborn, Babycakes sought guidance on whether she should do something about it, which Wysharna apparently advised against. Yet they were promised an opportunity to save the world – which they apparently wanted to do, and so were kidnapped by unknown kidnappers.

A while later the alchemist Luscious Lucius made his own way down Queen’s, arriving at the same armorer, and after conversing with the smith made away with some handy goods.

The monkey of Felnich upon being questioned by the Luminary was imprisoned, but escaped, killing the King of Nor in the process, he has discovered a Chaos Diamond, and a legend that says it is matched with a number of others that when combined will yield unlimitable power. After escaping the city above ground it seems that Felnich teleported his favored acolyte to some distant subterranean complex.

While all this was going on the dwarf Ulfgar did lots of boring stuff that may or may not have involved other dwarves, his logs and reports may be consulted for more detail.

The budding lich, Willaby Wilde, having gained the favor of Orcus, who has decided to carry Nor on his back, for some reason (perhaps it is forced?), was sent to an ancient demi-lich’s crypt to discover those secrets for himself. After scaling the stone mound he discovered it’s grisly visage, but also a fellow necromancer with a band (instruments and all) of skeletons, they together endeavored to breach the trapped passages of the tomb within.

There's no place like Nor

The Emprix of Deva saga has now concluded; Nor is safe, from that danger at any rate. I must note that the Emprix compelled me to serve by some powerful magical charm. This power makes me wonder at her motives, for a being such as she should have known that I would have helped her, since it really wasn’t much more trouble than I would have faced anyway. Yet she has left me with a gift, one which is … valuable. The knowledge that I’ve been a pawn of some liege other than my king quickly motivated me to dismiss the Emprix; but the reason I did so was not revenge, nor any other but Nor itself. Nor is safe from at least some of our potential foes, and may have some new protection from forces beyond our means – though we must be wary the cost, and the intentions of these feyish Deva.

Our final encounter was rather disappointing. It seems that some foul magician had been animating the corpses of vrill – the same perverse mind that saw fit to sew flesh together and hallucinate their disgusting mating habits. He was easily dispatched by the efforts of our new arboreal scout and avian bard, whose fondness of chaos unsettles me – though this time it was amusing I must admit. I’ve discovered that she came into possession of a set of wondrous but chaotic pipes, which seem responsible for a number of minor phenomena affecting us, such as the changing of colors and substances. Most recently it turned the Emprix’s ship into a whale; which would have been less amusing hade it prevented us from achieving our goal. Willaby Wilde went missing during the fight, completely disappeared and has yet to be found, none of the rest of our party claims to have seen him. I must admit that his desertion does not surprise me. I suspect he planned to abandon us to the evil mage – his master even, since Wilde has taken to conducting profane magics, but I am surprised that he did not even choose to attack us when he had the advantage of a fellow sorcerer to assist him. Perhaps he meant for us to end this mage to his own purposes, or perhaps it is yet another of his strategic blunders. In any event, the unknown mage’s purpose is yet a mystery, I’ve not had time to question an associate of his who surrendered to us. She seems pliant enough. The mage had at his disposal a displacer beast as well. I had reason to believe it might have been imprisoned, and so asked our cleric if she might be able to free the monster from the mage’s control, being wont to risk our party needlessly, and on the hunch that it might improve relations between whatever clan it might have had and the rest of intelligent beings in Nor. I was partly mistaken; the beast had been conjured and was not native, but our cleric managed to tame it nonetheless, and thus did not present a risk to us as we dealt with its foul master. I am disappointed, as I’ve yet to see a decent challenge of late. Perhaps Kaze would oblige me with some sport.

Now then, the monkey pilot of the Emprix’s ship has opted to remain with us. He demonstrates a free-spiritedness that is somewhat refreshing, and a desire to generally do good by others which is heartening, but also a distinct secrecy that is unnerving, and amplifies the dubious nature of his new loyalties. The treasure we found I staked but a modest claim to, in anticipation of larger finds in Norfeld of peculiarly dwarven interest. If I am unable to consult my superiors prior to such a find, I have resolved at my discretion to reserve some of the most important artifacts in such a find, and permit my faithful comrades to possess one other item of their choosing in appreciation for their assistance, leaving the reserved artifacts and the other dwarven treasure as the reclaimation for Norheim.

Out of the Frying Pan ....

The situation is growing increasingly worse. I had hoped that a roguish type from another world might deviate from the norm, but this – space monkey – has demonstrated a disturbing propensity for dishonesty and possibly treachery. We encountered a druid in the forest north of Norfeld, as we’ve been forced to take a detour for the sake of all that we hold dear. This druid claims to be some sort of fungus deity – Kaze is his name – though his knowledge seems lacking for a deity, he claims to be unable to see the doings of other gods, which makes some sense, but his vision seems more limited still. I maintain my doubts in this regard. Whatever he is, he is extremely powerful, and is not to be underestimated, though I’ve yet to suspect reason for violent confrontation. As a matter of fact, Kaze healed our minstrel of her debilitation; something called mummy rot, in which the dust of frog bones was a component of the cure – I don’t assume the necrotic magic animating these particular bones affected the healing properties of the concoction. Of greater importance is the fact that the monkey has an uncanny relationship with the newly ascendent dragon Felnich; having removed his helmet just prior to this installment, I observed that he has lost the fur on his head – it seems he’s lost all of his fur actually – and now bears a tattoo over his skin that resembles scale mail, his skin most notably is now purple. More troubling is the fact that he breathed a gulf of flame which wholly consumed a chimera – a beast I understand to be very dangerous, though I know little more than it’s description: a winged beast with 3 head: a goat, a dragon, and a lion, with clawed feet, furry body, and the tail of a serpent. I know the monkey is witholding information from me, most certainly related to Felnich, and probably of critical importance to Nor. I suspect he’s not the only one with crucial knowledge. At least three of the party has thus far proven trustworthy, I shall have to review the events of our venture with them.

All of this monkey business is made worse by the fact that the light has yet to return; apparently there is an Agarican prophecy about the rise of darkness, and of Agarica – Agarica is a borderless fungus nation that Kaze represents – being preceded by actions which we, alas, may have had part in, which implicates that deathly times are ahead. The fire from my previous entry apparently spread throughout the city of Norfeld. On the bright side I imagine a number of the undead and other miscreants were caught unawares, making any reclaimation efforts easier; a contingent of Tunnel Crew could easily undertake the project even in this darkness. In any event, it seems that in order to prevent undue loss of life we must see the Emprix safely to her ship, or vast, terrible forces may be brought against us.

Deities & Dragons

As the actions of Mr. Wilde became increasingly suspicious I was forced to return the Avian Falcon with the last report; on account of the fact that “shortly” has yet to come, I’ve taken to keeping a log of events until it arrives; thankfully the circumstances have not prohibited this undertaking thus far. I hope that “shortly” comes sooner rather than later, for a number of urgent events have transpired which I must report.

It is now 3 days since the last installment; I have thus far failed to report a most unusual addition to our group, and acquaintance of the Emprix; a monkey who apparently pilots the diva’s enchanted vessel. This only because my interaction with him has been minimal and not unprofitable, and thus warranted further time before a more complete report could be made. However, the most important events transpired on the second of these days. As we made our exit from the city’s north gate, the cursed statue appeared again, at a major intersection; it fell from the sky and formed a large crater where once a solid oak had stood within the north city limits. Many lightnings did strike at the crater, and the statue within, until the statue shed itself as a shell, unveiling a live replica of the gargoyle. At this point I managed to get everyone back inside a building we had made camp in; the abandoned wizard’s hovel to be specific, and apparently unseen. The two exceptions to this were the incompetent Wilde who teleported directly in front of the monster, and the unfortunate space monkey who offered to investigate the situation and caught the monster’s attention once Mr. Wilde fell unconscious. It became apparent that the monkey had previously developed a friendship with the beast in spite of his short sojourn here, albeit a tenuous and awkward one. The creature spoke Common and introduced itself as the Dragon Lord Felnich. Along with our cleric of Wysharna, the monkey has negotiated a tentative ‘friendship’ between the dragon and our party. It further seems that contingent on this the monkey offered a fruit it calls a banana, and claims was a god, to the dragon, and now Felnich is a god also; of what caliber remains to be seen. The apparent ease with which the monkey changes his loyalties concerns me. Felnich has also changed his scales from blue to copper; a transition that was accompanied by the sound of panpipes. During this episode we retained an elven acquaintance whose resume is impressive, for a human, if mercenary.

The evening prior to this Mr. Lucius and I had escaped with the Emprix from the temple outpost; after searching the hovel thoroughly and surveying the terrain we agreed that Lucius would scout ahead, as it was easier for me to lower him from a rope than vice versa, and since he had the advantage in stealth. Very soon after I heard a commotion just down the street, and took to the roof for a better view. It seems that a mass of undead were shambling about the streets, and our comrades had stumbled upon us by accident, the street had also been set ablaze; given the alchemist’s propensity for starting fires, I can only guess how this one started. Since it seems to have affected only the surface of the main boulevards, I’m confident that no dwarven assets were risked. Nevertheless I managed to shuffle a quick fire-break on one edge of the blaze, after dispatching some undead that had cut off Mr. Lucius. An undead that most resemles the ancient dead for its burial wrappings managed to escape us, but not before infecting our musical friend with a malady that Wysharna’s disciple seems unable to cure. I shall have to ask the magicians if they know of any poultices that might alleviate this ailment, her song has been less cheerful of late. It’s a shame the day didn’t come sooner, the light may have diverted such a tragedy; interesting that it came as soon as it did, however, accompanied by the music of panpipes. I’ll have to inquire of our bard what insight she may have into these events. Among the local ruins I had the opportunity to discover one of the old dining halls, and evidence of four nobles from four of the dwarven clans. I’ve also found an iron ring in the abandoned wizard’s hovel with simple dwarven runes on it: I feel more centered when wearing it; I’m sure a wizard would know more, unfortunately I’ve none at hand whom I can trust. Today’s adventure was more mundane, if only because nothing seems to surprise me anymore. The way to the Emprix’s ship lead us into another forest, in which we encountered a group of disease-ridden creatures whose only threat was to spew the contents of their boils on us. Rather disgusting, but nothing worse than any battle-hardened soldier has faced. Blessed is Kole for the iron constitution he has bestowed upon us.

Not so long ago, in a galaxy not so far away

It has been over two weeks now since our party left Norbrecht. Already we have reached the doorstep of our goal: the real quest begins. As we approached, however, things took a most unexpected turn. Apparently a most exotic craft has run afoul of our world, and from it has spewed many creatures of considerable abilities: I welcome the battle. The ship in question was transporting an astral diva who as of yet is known to me only as The Emprix. We barely reached the outskirts of the city when the lady and her escort came fleeing towards us from these creatures – stunted minotaurs really – which we readily dispatched. Taking then the shortest path to her crashed vessel, the outer road north, we came to an ambush. One of these Vrill, as they’re called, was possessed of the magical ability to compel his enemies to flee. Wysharna’s disciple has managed to tame one of the lizards of the plains, a formidable beast, which was unaffected by this compulsion, and managed to hold the vrill at bay until we rallied. Unfortunately during these mere moments another party managed to arrest the Emprix and take her into the city. We managed to subdue one of their number however, and from him learned their location (via the infamous Dwarven rock technique). I then sent Wilde to investigate their holdings: he proved not only untrustworthy, but incompetent to the task as well. He has shown a disturbing affinity for the enemy, and I now suspect his treachery is greater still. Request: a thorough investigation of his prior dealings and associations.
The skirmish with the bandit clan, while impromptu was fortuitous in that they had no outposts. Mr. Wilde somehow mingled with the bandits while we organized, thank Kole for their competence. Mr. Lucius had previously convinced the bandits of his good intentions – though it is now clear that his loyalty has a price – and so surprised them when the monk, who had been tied to his leg, and subsequently knocked unconscious, awoke and committed suicide. Mr. Lucius has informed me that the monk attacked the bandits, apparently trying to prove something, without coordinating with him. To his credit, he seems to have taken down at least one of the bandits for us on his own.
I next found Mr. Wilde sitting in the blaze of the alchemist’s fire, clearly not wishing to be there; I dislodged him on my way to the Emprix’ screams. After vanquishing her torturers and quickly tending to her wounds, thanks to the water that was present, I stood guard while the raptoran prepared to evacuate our casualty through the ceiling. However, the remnants of the bandit clan seemed preoccupied with an ogre that had been magically sent. There is an increasingly complex network of interests surrounding the Emprix. The alchemist, the Emprix, and I were isolated, yet fortified, in the abandoned hovel of a wizard.

Treasure!

It is now 11 days since my departure from Norbrecht, 5 days since we slew the band of giants. The elvish fisherfolk of Teln seem more amicable toward the dwarven race for our stay, partly since we helped rebuild somewhat after the skirmish with those blockheaded giants – I can think of no other contributions. Again: if anyone sees a gem embedded in an eye socket, they are not to touch even the body of such a creature unless they be of strong will, and even then their mind should be bolstered and guarded against divers enchantments. Most of the villagers of Teln are newly dead for taking these gems: I heard many screams echoing throughout the hamlet, only to see corpses fall to the gound when I exited the tavern we were staying in; it seems that these stones – becoming mere shells – melted the brains of those who took them. I assume this was conjured as the event occured simlutaneously across the community. I spoke with a cloaked, hooded figure with a tattoo over his eye that looked something like this: II . He told me that he was instrumental in the gems’ creation – given their alarming frequency I can only assume this is ongoing – and that he can see through any of the gems he pleases. Apparently the gems allow some to percieve auras. The enchantment surrounding these stones is strong.

3 times now members of our party have ventured into what I can only describe as a ‘dreamspace’ – each time to fight a battle – yet the spoils (mostly goblin filth) have appeared on our wake amongst us. The most recent of these encounters – of which I was not part – alloted us some gold, and a stone statue. The statue most closely resembles an over-sized serpentine gargoyle, and appears to be cursed. I’ve yet to notice any ill effect on myself while it is around; but it repeatedly appears in our camp whenever we stop to rest. Despite some study of the statue, it never seems to move, though my attentions have been diverted to a number of other things that this matter is not currently a priority.

Also, the Momba House has proven to be in league with, if not a front for, {Elite Assassin’s Guild}.

Finally, I hereby place a requisition for the following: a message stone – or other secure communications device, I’m sure our terramages can find the time to send one of those my way; also a mage or mage apprentice as I’m afraid I cannot trust those with whom I’m currently associated; and lastly any pertinant information about the gems – I’m sending words from Wysharna to aid your study, about this statue – which I’ve roughly sketched, or about Momba House or {Elite Assassin’s Guild}.

Ships Storms and Prisons, Liches and some Giants

I disembarked one week after my arrival in Norbrecht with the adventurers: Luscious Lucius, Willaby Wilde, Ivan the monk, Estrella d’Arbit, and Featherfoot the raptoran. A bridge is out; we hired masons to rrepiuldt it. I am currently wary of Mr. Wilde: a skulk who, after a sahuagin skirmish, tried to surct one of their treasures: a stone emitting an array of colours; having agreed to divide all spoils evenly-he threw the stone into the sea; I have knot duturmihed to press charges; I am unimpressed with his usefulness as hell. The monk had left, but returned by magic as we neared Dechma Prison, the condition of which is abhorrent; all of the convicts have now escaped; most are seafood. One notable prisoner is free: Gregori Nachez. He timed a riot for the Momba caravan’s annual stop. The prison docks were empty when we found them. At the request of the chief magistrate of Momba House Norbrecht-a kyhdy man with a fine green cloak, I have notified them of this event separately. We departed the island with the Momba caravan and landed on the coast at Teln slaying a 5 giant band; 30 elves survived the attack; 3 saved from the wreckage. Any creature or corpse found with a gem in one of their eyes must be handled only by one of strong will; seal the gems in a lead box. I will send more information.

A Caravan of traveling entertainers and exotic goods vendors pulled into Norbrecht for a week of debauchery and moneymaking, bearing one of the mysterious figures! It turned out to be a winged female who chirps and twitters in some bird language, but doesn’t speak Common. However, her music doesn’t lose any of its effect—her tunes put a jaunty spring in the step of all who hear them. Her name, as indicated by her species, is Featherfoot.

Willaby Wylde decided that he liked stealing things, and so embarked on a tax-free life of crime until the local Thieves’ Guild decided to curb his rampant growth; they don’t take too well to outsiders stealing their share, as it were. However, Willaby’s persuasive tongue netted him a place amongst the thieves! (instead of a slit throat and a bath in the Gist Sea)

The Human discovered that her name was Estrella d’Arbit, and was informed by Wysharna that she was to be Wysharna’s champion on Nor. With a path established, Estrella immediately set about fulfilling her new Goddess’ wishes.

The ?Lawyer? consolidated his position in the Norbrecht Merchant’s Association by poisoning one of the caravan’s leaders and diverting the flow of cash back to the Merchants; he then promptly disobeyed his superior’s new orders and fled to the Thieves’ Guild with all the records. He is still unnamed, because his player is lazy.

A newly moniker’d monk by the name of Ivan decided that he would pursue the path of Righteousness and declared his intention to pursue nonviolence. In these troubled times, can he hold out? To fully invest himself with new powers, he must travel back to his monastery and swear this Vow before his master.

After several of these minor adventures, Estrella and Ivan teamed up with the winged Featherfoot for some zombie-killing action in the sewers of Norbrecht! Turns out there’s quite a problem with the little buggers, and the local version of garbage men can’t handle them. So they staunchly started into the upper level of the sewers after Ivan went and made some preparations.

After slaying a few of the shambling monsters in the usual way, they kicked down a door to find a horde of the zombies in a side passage! Here, Ivan unveiled his “preparations”, lighting a torch and spewing alcohol through it to create a horrendous blast of flame! Most of the crowd of undead was immolated on the spot, and the few left were dispatched with ease.

While they were fighting, Willaby Wylde failed to steal candy from a baby as part of his Thieves’ initiation, and was pursued by an angry mob until he dove down a sewer hole and discovered that zombies move much faster in the darkness. How did these awful things come to be?

Luckily for him, he was only a couple of corridors away from the well-prepared party of Ivan, Estrella, and Featherfoot, and so managed to survive until they sloshed up and defeated the remaining undead. It was then that the party discovered that the bones of the newly dead were tearing themselves free of the unliving flesh and floating down the sewage stream. After dispatching more roaming groups of the hissing, shambling zombies and giving a bite of ZombAway to Willaby, they found that the bones had assembled into a deadly Bone Golem! Ivan’s flaming attack proved useless, and Willaby’s short sword only cracked individual bones. The Golem targeted Ivan for some reason, beating the stuffing out of him before Estrella blasted it with beam after beam of golden light, finally destroying it enough that it fell back into its component bones.

Feeling quite accomplished with themselves, the party reported their success to the garbagemen’s overseer, an Aloisyuus Butts by name, who thanked them for their civic contribution.

Several questions remain unanswered: Where did the zombies come from? How did that Bone Golem come to be? and why is the ?Lawyer? such a douche?

The story so far...

Willaby Wilde, an Eladrin magi-cum-bartender whose house and parents were burned to the ground while he was away, came to the city seeking work; this new concept has begun to take its toll on the ne’er-do-well.

A Human raised by unwilling Elves came to the city without really knowing why; after having done so, though, she discovered a Calling.

A ?Lawyer? showed up in Norbrecht and was immediately given the finest of clothes, a cushy job, and a death threat.

A young monk, recently reunited with his parents in the city, has decided he wishes to become a merchant in order to learn the ways of the world.

A boy raised by Blink Dogs met up with a mage of some repute, who has taken him under his wing; they are on their way to Norbrecht.

A mysterious figure did mysterious things!

Another mysterious figure did even more mysterious things!

Who are these mysterious figures? Only their creators could say, because they’ve been lazy and haven’t finished a character description yet. :D